Ajax won their opening Match of the new Eredivisie Season Against Telstar with Much Difficulty on Sunday. The Promoted Team Put in a Strong Performance in The Johan Cruijff Arena But Still Lost: 2-0.
Ajax Struggled from the Start Against Telstar, Who Returned to The Highest Level After 47 Years. Coach Anthony Correia’s team had Many Chances and just hit the post before half time.
Ajax took An Early 1-0 lead through a goal by Wout Weghorst, who scored from a pass by Steven Berghuis. Shortly Before the End, Weghorst Scored the Relieving Second Goal With A Header From A Corner.
But Ajax Certainly Did Not Convince in the First Match Under John Heitinga, who replaced Francesco Fararian as Ajax Coach This Summer. The Amsterdam Team Will Play An Away Match Against Go Ahead Eagles Next Week.
Top Signing Oscar Gloukh Made His Debut Against Telstar After Playing for over an Hour. Heitinga also Gave Newcomers Raúl Moro and Viteszlav Jaros and Seventeen-Year-Old Defender Aaron Bouwman Their Debuts.
Telstar Misses Huge Opportunities in Arena
Bouman himself Made A Mistake Within Three Minutes. He misjudged a long ball, Allowing Telstar Striker Milan Zonneveld to go one-on-one with Jaros. Youri Baas Narrowly Prevented a Shot with a sliding tackle. From the subsequent corner, Telstar hit the post through Patrick Brouwer.
The Two Huge Chances Foreshadowed a Strange First Half in the Arena. In it, Telstar, who play with a many former amateurs, absolutely did not give the impression that the club had Been absent from the highest level for almost half a century.
That good play also had to do with the disappointing performance of the home team. Ajax Looked Participularly Vulnerable Defensively Again. Under Heitinga, Ajax Wants To Play Further Forward and Put Higher Pressure Than Under Departed Coach Farioli. But that urge to attack also costs ajax a lot.
That was Already evident in the preparation, in which Ajax did not keep a clean sheet once. Telstar was also Given Plenty of Room to Attack. This was also SEEN by Top defensive signing ko itakura, who was not yet eligible to play and watched from the stands. Due to a Lack of Speed and Sharpness in Front of the Goal, Telstar Did Not Benefit From It.
Ajax Public Applauds for Gloukh
Despite the defensive weakness, Ajax could have run away from Telstar Before Half Time. After Weghorst’s Goal, Berghuis (header) had a great chance. And Both Bertrand Troóre and Raúl Moro Clumsily Ruined a One-On-One Situation with goalkeeper Ronald Koeman Jr.
After half time, Ajax Continued where they Left Off: With Weak Defending. It Led to Chances for Soufiane Hetli and Zonneveld, Whose Header was Saved by Jaros. Later, The Same Zonneveld Ran Into Jaros with a Venomous Shot.
The Public In The Arena occasionally Fell Silent Due to the Lack of Excitement, But Made Themselves Heard Loudly When Top Signing Gloukh, Playing With His first name Oscar on His Shirt, Came On The Field. But the Israeli Could Not Distinguish himself.
Meanwhile, Telstar was Hunting for the Equalizer, which Almost Fell. Substitute Sebastiaan Hagedoorn Ran Into Jaros with a hard shot. That chance led to loud booing in the arena, where the public was still able to cheer after Weghorst’s 2-0.
Ajax Thus Remained Flawless in The Season Opener, But There is Clearly Still a Lot Of Work to Be Done for Trainer Heitinga.